Monday, July 30, 2012

Laundry after the 9 Days

I have an unusual laundry set up for Israel. We actually have our laundry room in the basement, and we have a laundry chute! We just open the door of the chute and dump the laundry down and promptly forget about it. At least, that's what we did during the 9 Days.


So now the laundry room looks like this:

It also looks like SOME people have decided that various boxes, and yes, even Tonka trucks belong in the laundry. If I find those things in the washing machine, I bet you'll hear about it!!
 
Are you wondering, as I am, just how long it will take to sort out that laundry into manage-able piles about the size of a load?

 Or perhaps you wonder, as I do, exactly how many times I will be loading up my trusty washing machine this week?
 
 Or maybe you want to know who is going to hang it all to dry, shlep it back inside after, and then fold it?

 So many laundry questions to ponder...

During the rest of the year, I usually go down there every couple of days to "check" on the laundry. We have a 10 kg washing machine (Love it!) and I like to run full loads. So when I have enough for a load of laundry, in it goes, and then I hang it on my drying racks. This house did not come equipped with a clothesline, but luckily we purchased these awesome, handy-dandy folding drying racks with tons of space and stowed them on our lift.

They look a lot like this, only we actually purchased them at Ikea. (Sorry, the current Ikea catalog does not seem to include them. So, Israelis, you may be out of luck. But those of you in America can  just order them - free delivery - from Amazon , and you'll be air drying your clothes in no time, whether or not you have a clothesline!


Have I mentioned that air drying our clothes helps keep our electric bill down? I won't say manageable, because it's all relative. We started air drying clothing when we live in Florida, and got the shock of our first electric bill there in the summer. It was either give up A/C or give up the dryer. We gave up the dryer, and I don't really miss it!  Try it out, let me know  if you've considered giving up your dryer...

5 comments:

  1. I don't have a dryer. It's a relatively new appliance for many British. Why would I want to use all that electricity when the clothes dry in this weather in less than an hour on the balcony on a clothes horse (drying rack)?

    When I was a child I took my brother's Tonka Truck and propped up the skip bit at the back to use as a baby seat for my doll. He was not amused.

    When we went away for Peasch we rented out our apartement. Leaving early in the morning we had no time to wash our bedding. I put clean bedding on the beds and hid our dirty sheets away (and the clothes we'd worn the previous day and night). The renters had the same problem as us. So on our return I had two lots of bedding for each bed to wash plus all our holiday clothes. I know how you feel.

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  2. I forgot - after pesach there were also all our towels we'd used up to going away and the renters' towels. I knew there was more.

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    1. Sounds overwhelming!! Aren't you glad it's behind you? ;-)

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  3. I was at IKEA in Netanya this morning - they do have the drying units like the ones in your picture - they cost 295 shekels each...

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    1. Wow Nicole, thanks for the update! I couldn't find them online! And that is an incredibly high price. I got them for $15 each at IKEA in Florida, on sale for the 4th of July...

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